Improvement in cable-stoppers



Nrrab STATES GUSTAVUS S. PERKINS, OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY.

IMPROVEMENT IN CABLE-STOPPERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. /1 1,235, dated January l2, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, GUs'rAvUs S. PERKrNs, of the United States Navy, have invented a new and Improved Cable-Stopper; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is aside view of my stopper showing it applied to a cable. Fig. 2 is an under side view of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention consists in a cable-stopper of improved construction, whereby greater facility is afforded for slipping the cable, and a vessel is enabled to get under way more expeditiously.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The stopper is composed of a lever, A, having on one side, near its fulcrurn a, a pair of curved claws, b b, and on the same side, farther from the fulcrum, a pair of straight prongs,c c.

The space between two claws, b b, and that between the two prongs c c, are each just wide enough for the free admission of the links ofthe cable edgewise. The claws c c are just long enough to admit a link edgewise and to support by their curvature a contiguous link, whichlies across them when theleveris placed over the cable, as shown in Fig. l. The two prongs c c are made sufficiently longer than the outside width of a link to enable a pin, d, to be inserted transversely through holes provided in them after they have received the link, and they are at such distance from the prongs that they will allow one link to lie between them while another is held bythe claws c c.

The stopper thus constructed is attached to a shackle, B, by the pin a thereof, the said pin constituting the fulcrum of the lever, and the said shackle is secured by rope C or chain to the bitts D, the Inode of attachment of the stopper to the shackle being 4such that the lever may lie in a horizontal or inclined position, with the claws and prongs downward, when its extremity e is toward the hawsepipe f, as shown in Fig. 1.

To apply the stopper, it-is secured to the shackle by the pin a in the manner above described, and its claws b b placed over one link, g, of the cable, and its prongs c c over another link, h.

The pin d is then inserted through the prongs, and the extremity c is made fast to the cable by a tight lashing, t', and the claws b b then act as a stop to the link j, which is next abaft the link g.

- The prongs c c serve to act against the link k, which is next abaft the link h, to relieve the claws b b in some degree of strain, and the pin d, by supporting the cable in front of the claws b b, prevents it from dropping out from the said claws when the cable gets slack, as it is sometimes liable to do in the pitching of the vessel in heavy weather.

To let go, or, as it is termed, slip,7 the cable, it is only necessary, first, to draw out the pin d, and then cnt the lashing i with a knife, and the draft or weight ofthe cable will then act upon the claws b b and prongs c c to throw the lever over, as indicated in red outline in Fig. l, till it frees itself from the said claws and prongs, when it will instantly run outboard clear of the vessel.

The great advantage of this stopper is that it allows the cable to be always left unshackeled abaft of it, whereas with the ordinary stoppersit is necessary, in order to slip the cable, first to unshackle it, and afterward to cut the heavy lashings, which are necessarily used, with an ax, and there is frequently much danger and delay in the operation.

In order to prevent the cable from twisting, the pin a is made long enough to protrude through the shackle some distance, that temporary chocks Z Zmay be placed under it.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The cable-stopper composed of a lever, A, furnished with a pair of claws, b b, as described, and to be applied in connection with the cable, and with a shackle or its equiva- GUSTAVUS S. PERKINS.

Witnesses:

THOMAS MANRAHAN, B. B. Krowtrolv9 

